West
Fork Complex Fire Update
Eastern Great Basin Incident
Management Team – Beth Lund, Incident Commander
Central Coast Interagency
Incident Management Team 7 – Mark Nunez, Incident CommanderEast Zone Phone: 719-569-4149
West Zone Phone: 970-731-2432
Hours of operation: 8:00 am – 9:00 pm
East Zone Email: WestForkFire.EastZone@gmail.com
West Zone Email: westforkfire@gmail.com
July 6, 2013
9:00 am
Special Messages: Incident Commander Beth Lund of the Type 1 Eastern Great Basin Incident Management Team
assumed command of the West Fork Fire East Zone at 6:00 a.m. this morning.
Current Situation:
East Zone of the West
Fork Complex (Includes Papoose and Eastern Part of West Fork Fires)
The strategies for operations on the fire include continuing protection
for structures and high value resources, as well as confining the fire to areas
where it will not pose a threat to local communities during the remainder of
the summer.
Papoose Fire: Fire activity was
minimal, with single trees burning and deep needle litter (duff) continuing to
burn. Over the last few days, Papoose
has not seen the moisture that West Fork has.
The southern end of the fire has crossed the Continental Divide, but
acres that burned were minimal (approximately fifteen to twenty acres). Hand line has been constructed south of Red
Mountain Ranch to prevent the potential for the fire to spread north back
towards Highway 149. Firefighters
continue to mop up around structures where heat and smoke continue to be an
issue. Burn out operations along some
of the meadows near Highway 149 is complete.
Eastern Part of West Fork
Fire: Thunderstorms
over the fire area produced gusty winds and lightning yesterday. The southern part of the fire received nearly
0.75 inches of rain mid-afternoon yesterday.
Ash and mud flows will be a concern, but plans are being developed for
mitigation. Firefighters will continue
fireline construction through the Elk Mountain area and monitor areas along
Highway 160 where fire remains active.
West Zone of West Fork
Complex (Includes Western Part of West Fork and Windy Pass Fires)
Minimal fire growth occurred last night.
Firefighters will continue to patrol and monitor the fire and are poised
to respond to any new fire starts that may have occurred during the past few
days. Weather permitting, aircraft patrol will continue. There are new starts reported near Shaw Creek
and Bear Creek on the western side of Williams Lake Reservoir area. Firefighters will patrol the area to assess
the need for initial attack and make a plan.
West Zone West Fork Fire: There was very
little activity last evening. The West
Zone of the West Fork fire
is the portion of the fire burning south of the continental divide. Structure
protection is still in place for the Wolf Creek Ski Area, Borns Lake Cabins,
and Bruce Spruce Resort. The West Fork
Campground is open.
Windy Pass Fire: Monitoring by air will continue today as well as firefighters continuing
to patrol and monitor the fire area.
Williams Creek Contingency Group: Firefighters will continue structure protection, patrol and monitor and initial attack new starts.
Weather: A better chance of moisture continues to
exist as a high pressure system streams over southwest Colorado. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to
develop by early afternoon. Sunday will
bring a slight increase in the chance of wetting rain. A significant drying trend is expected into
the middle of next week.
Public Health and Safety: Smoke monitors are in place in Pagosa
Springs, Freemon’s Ranch, Creede, and South Fork. The monitors are identified as #78 (Creede),
#69 (Freemon’s Ranch), #25 (South Fork), and #65 (Pagosa Springs). All monitors can be accessed through the map
located at: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl.
Times displayed are in GMT – subtract 6 hours to get local time (MDT). For the official Colorado Smoke Outlook,
please visit http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/colo_advisory.aspx
and http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/wildfire.aspx
for further health advisory information.
Evacuations and Closures: Some communities still remain under
evacuation, others on pre-evacuation notice.
Residents are reminded to remain vigilant and be prepared to evacuate at
a moment’s notice in the event that fire activity changes. Visit http://westforkfirecomplex.blogspot.com/
for a list of areas currently under evacuation or pre-evacuation. The list will be updated as conditions
change.
For additional information on
road and trail closures and fire restrictions affecting the San Juan National Forest
go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sanjuan/alerts-notices.
For additional information on
road and trail closures and fire restrictions affecting the Rio Grande National
Forest go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/.
Fire Information Meetings: None scheduled at this
time.
Media Briefings: There are no scheduled media briefings.
Fire Statistics:
Location: 14.5 miles north/northeast of Pagosa Springs, CO Start
Date: 06/05/2013
Complex Size: 110,028 acres Percent Contained: 25%Windy Pass: 1,417 acres Cause: Lightning
Papoose: 48,652 acres Total Personnel: 1,032
West Fork: 59,959 acres
Air Resources: 6 Type 1 helicopters, 1 Type 2 helicopters, and 1 Type 3 helicopters.
Places
to get information:
Website: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3436/
Twitter: @Rio Grande NF
Information Boards: Information is posted at the
Pagosa Springs Visitor Information Center, Freemon's Ranch near Creede, the
Forest Service office in Creede, and at the Del Norte High School.
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